مجموعة ٢٨ /٦٧ "بلاد فارس: تقارير سنوية، ١٩٣٢-" [و‎‎١‎٣‎٧] (٦٤٤/٢٧٣)

93. During the course of the summer (after the first discussions with the
Iranian Government) the press published calls for tenders for lighthouses at
Bushire and on Qais Island. It was evident that the Bushire light was intended
to guide aircraft as well as shipping, and Colonel Ward took advantage of his
meeting with Colonel Bayendor in August to express his personal view that the
light proposed would be of very doubtful utility and that Colonel Bayendor would
do well to re-examine his specifications. Later it was ascertained that the
Iranians seemed to be following this advice.
94. When Cable and Wireless (Limited) closed their station at Hen jam
shortly before the end of the year, it was suggested to the Iranian Government
that they should instruct an Iranian petty officer stationed there to attend to it
in future. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs had not replied by the end of
the year.
(k) Bahrein.
95. Very little was heard about Bahrein during the year. The communique
issued at the moment of the evacuation of Hen jam and Basidu contained a
reference to the fact that the naval stations in the Gulf were being moved there,
and M. Kazemi’s reply to His Majesty’s Minister’s note regarding the evacuation
accordingly contained a reservation in regard to c ‘ the right of the Imperial
Government in connexion with Bahrein both for the present and for the future.
M. Kazemi qualified his reservation, however, by stating, that he did not wish at
this juncture to embark upon a discussion of the question.
96. At the same time, M. Kazemi, in conversation with His Majesty’s
Minister, expressed the view that the Iranian Government were quite prepared
to recognise the independence of Bahrein, which, he indicated, was really of no
interest to Iran. But in face of Iranian public opinion, the Government could
not abandon their claim without something to show in return. (The substance
of this conversation has been more fully recorded in the section dealing with
General Treaty Negotiations.)
97. Bahrein did not subsequently form the subject of any correspondence
with the Iranian Government.
(l) Correspondence with the Iranian Government regarding the A rab Sheikhdoms.
98. While the Iranian Government refuse to send any official reply to
communications from His Majesty’s Legation in regard to matters affecting the
Arab sheikhdoms, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs are willing to give oral
replies to requests for information on such questions as, for instance, the
detention of Arab dhows in connexion with smuggling charges.
99. During the course of the year M. Motamedy twice asked His Majesty’s
Legation to obtain information in regard to cases in Koweit in which the interests
of Iranian subjects were involved. After some correspondence, His Majesty s
Minister and the Honourable the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf
eventually decided that we should forward any such complaints to the Govern
ment concerned for whatever reply they might return.
100. It was felt that even such oral requests for information constituted
a slight admission of the special position held by His Majesty’s Government with
the Arab sheikhs, and that refusal on our part to forward them would probably
only lead to a stalemate, in which neither side would agree to investigate the
other’s complaints.
(m) Tamb and A bu Musa.
101. Some mysterious happenings took place at Tamb in the early part of
the vear following on the action of the Sheikh of Ras-al-Khaimah at the end o
1934 in having his flagstaff removed (see paragraph 140 of the annual report
for 1934). There being grounds for suspicion that the sheikh had been mtiigumg
with the Iranians, the senior naval officer landed a small guard and, though t us
was later withdrawn, for some weeks a sloop visited the island at liequent
intervals.
[12998]
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